France Arrests Foe of Abortion In 1998 Murder

By DAVID JOHNSTON

Published: March 30, 2001

WASHINGTON, March 29—
A fugitive anti-abortion activist charged with the sniper killing of an Amherst, N.Y., doctor in 1998 was arrested today at a village post office in western France, federal authorities said.

The French police, acting on information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, arrested the fugitive, James Charles Kopp, 46, in Dinan, a town in Brittany, after Mr. Kopp picked up a package mailed from New York that contained about $300 in cash, the officials said.

Information on Mr. Kopp had been sent via an Interpol notice to police agencies throughout the world, and for nearly two years he had been on the F.B.I.'s most-wanted list in connection with the Oct. 23, 1998, shooting death of Barnett A. Slepian, a doctor who performed abortions and who had long been a subject of protests.

Dr. Slepian, 52, was struck by a bullet fired from a high-powered rifle through a window of his kitchen about 10 p.m. as he heated soup and chatted with his wife and one of his four children. He died about two hours later.

Mr. Kopp was unarmed today, and the arrest took place without incident after an international search that had gathered momentum in recent weeks. F.B.I. agents had tracked Mr. Kopp to Ireland, the officials said, and Irish authorities were closing in when Mr. Kopp vanished on March 12, apparently leaving the country on a false passport.

By late last week, F.B.I. agents had picked up Mr. Kopp's trail again, tracing him to Dinan. Today, after electronically monitoring his telephone conversations, they learned that he would be at the post office. F.B.I. agents quickly alerted the French police, who made the arrest.

Today, officials said Mr. Kopp had been assisted by associates in the anti-abortion movement and arrested a couple in New York, accusing them of conspiring to harbor a fugitive.

Attorney General John Ashcroft said today that efforts were under way to return Mr. Kopp to New York to stand trial. ''We are committed to bringing Mr. Kopp back to the United States to face these charges,'' Mr. Ashcroft said at a news conference.

Mr. Kopp faces state charges of second-degree murder and federal charges of using a firearm in a crime of violence and using deadly force to prevent Dr. Slepian from providing abortions. If found guilty under federal statutes, Mr. Kopp could be sentenced to death.

In addition, Mr. Kopp has been sought by Canadian authorities in connection with the shootings of three Canadian doctors in 1994, 1995 and 1997. Each of those physicians survived.

The French authorities have been reluctant to permit the extradition of suspects who might face the death penalty.

At the news conference, Director Louis J. Freeh of the F.B.I. said: ''There's a lot of restrictions in the treaty with respect to the penalty. These are diplomatic issues that have to be determined.''

Later, Justice Department officials said they were confident that they would be able to bring Mr. Kopp back to the United States.

Mr. Freeh said Mr. Kopp had help in his escape and in his more than two-year effort to elude detection -- a potentially crucial finding for investigators who have long searched to uncover a support network behind abortion clinic violence.

In the first of what officials said could be several arrests, federal authorities charged a New York couple with aiding Mr. Kopp's flight. F.B.I. agents arrested the married couple, Dennis J. Malvasi and Loretta C. Marra, at their home in Brooklyn.

Mr. Malvasi pleaded guilty in the 1986 bombing of an abortion clinic on Manhattan's East Side and the attempted bombing of a clinic in Elmhurst, Queens. Federal authorities said Ms. Marra had known Mr. Kopp since 1990, when both were arrested and jailed for two months in Vermont. She was also arrested with Mr. Kopp in Italy in 1992 for anti-abortion activities.

In an affidavit filed today in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, an F.B.I. agent said the couple communicated with Mr. Kopp for about a year, based on documents found during a covert search of the couple's apartment. Investigators also obtained copies of e-mail messages sent in recent days from France. The agent said the messages were from Mr. Kopp, who asked for money and discussed plans to meet Mr. Malvasi and Ms. Marra.

Investigators also found letters from Mr. Kopp that were sent from Ireland to Mr. Malvasi under the alias Ted Barnes. Investigators, who had also installed eavesdropping devices on the couple's phone, overheard a conversation between them, on March 5, in which they discussed ''Jim's money'' and the need to ''get it.''

Mr. Freeh said Mr. Kopp was careful to elude his pursuers. ''He took particular steps to avoid detection and capture, including the use of public phones, anonymous e-mail-type communications, and a lot of deliberate efforts to avoid apprehension and location.''

F.B.I. agents in Buffalo, which is about nine miles southwest of Amherst, said today that Mr. Kopp was thought to have led a somewhat lonely life during the year that he spent in Ireland, moving from city to city, working at clerical jobs and living in hostels. He altered his appearance from the goateed man in glasses who glared out from ''wanted'' posters, shaving his beard and appearing thinner than when he was last seen in the United States in November 1998, after the authorities said he was wanted as a material witness.